by Melos,Alana
Racing to catch up, I looked up at the flashing lights. They didn’t change, but I was sure more were on the way. We have to get it and get out, fast, I told him.
Right this way, madame, he replied. The last corridor lead to a set of huge double doors, reinforced. Here Sadowski stopped and his hands ceased their glowing. He took out another device, and affixed it to the keypad. It’ll take time.
We might not have much time, I shot back. I cast my mind wide, trying to filter through the psyches in the area. More than a few were alarmed, almost all were determined, and a half dozen or so were coming our direction. Twice that at Nosferatu… in my mind’s eye the vampire, who bled from more than a few wounds now, drained a meta dry. I thought again how much fun it would be to bite him, the dead body writhing underneath me as I tore him apart… but I shoved that thought away. Get out while you can, I sent to Nosferatu. More are coming, a big force. You did your part.
A sense of acknowledgment flooded me and then he cut the contact. I reeled for a moment, confusion at the sudden severance knocking me for a loop. No one had ever done that before... just cut me off without my say-so. Having those mental resources returned to me so roughly jarred me. My shoulder and side began to throb in time with my heartbeat, distracting me even more. I struggled to push away the sensations, close them off in a box in my head. I succeeded to some degree, and just in time for the next fight to break out.
As the squad of four came upon us, I abandoned my sword to concentrate on my teke. This was life or death… I wanted to slash them, but it was far more effective to do what I really did best, and I had to cover Harry behind me. I cut loose and had at it with everything I had. The first guard I grabbed and held up as a shield before me, using him to limit the rest’s vision as I attacked. I turned him around and used his eyes to see while he struggled in my telekinetic grasp. The second I grabbed by the arm and ripped it off to throw it at the one behind him. Screams erupted from the armless guard as his life began to bleed out in a great spurt of blood. The third one hesitated, looking at the severed limb with horror, so I took the opportunity to grab him with my teke and twist his head around, savagely. The last one of the squad had fired a few shots down the hallway, trying to hit us, but when he saw his friend say hi to him in a most disconcerting way, he dropped his gun and fled. I ripped the second arm off of the second and let him go, and ran my blade through my meat shield as the last of my energy faded. I couldn’t do this often… which was yet another reason why I preferred the blade. I wished I could do more, but at the same time… it left me vulnerable, drained of everything.
When I was done, I sank to my knees panting heavily, feeling the weight of the world on me as my sword dropped from my fingers. I had no energy left, none whatsoever, not even to lift the blade. The armless guard quietly bled out with his friend the shield, which left no enemies behind. The hallway had become their dying field, covered in splashes of blood which dripped down the walls to join the pools of blood on the floor. I hadn’t escaped the splashing either, and the red liquid covered the exposed parts of me like a thick coat of paint.
“Oh… my… God,” said a soft voice behind me. I had forgotten Sadowski was there. I tried to reach out telepathically, and I couldn’t even do that.
“We done?” I breathed in between mild coughing fits. My whole body ached. That was the furthest I had ever pushed myself. Usually, one or two was the most… all I could do was thank whatever dark power there was that last guard had run away instead of fighting.
“I have it,” he said, moving to me and helping me up. “We need to jet, can you fly?”
Wearily, I shook my head. “Need… food, energy….” Sadowski gave me a long look, frowning slightly as if considering leaving me behind. I wouldn’t have blamed him; hell, had I been in his spot, I would have done the same. Someone who couldn’t hold their own weight didn’t deserve to be saved. Much to my surprise and relief, he put an arm around my waist and hefted me quite easily. Without another word, he blasted off down the tunnel. I was shocked at the strength in his arm, and the fact he had so much energy left.
He flew us to the elevator and up into the shaft. As we flew up, it started to move down. I heard him swearing under his breath, but he aimed right for the hole he had cut in the bottom. Swooping through, we surprised the two civilians in it. He dropped me to one side, and I collapsed rather ungainly as he hit the man in the face. The woman barely had time to register what was happened, but she screamed anyway. Another punch, and the screaming stopped. I approved.
The elevator stopped. It wasn’t the bottom floor, at least, but the doors swished open revealing a couple more people, one of them armed. Our opponent had lightning fast reflexes, and shoved the civilian out of the way as he fired, grazing Harry. I sat up a little bit, and concentrated as fiercely as I could as Sadowski ducked, then launched himself out of the elevator. The guy stepped neatly to the side, avoiding the attack completely, and leveled his sights at my companion. Without thinking, I lashed out, mentally screaming at him to STOP! Lights danced in my eyes and I almost passed out at the effort, but it made him hesitate for that one crucial second… and then Sadowski had the drop on him.
He made short work of the guy, knocking him out, and then he got back in the elevator. He punched the button for the first floor. I lay there, feeling a bit of humiliation at how things ended up, but glad to be alive. I could survive being humiliated. Maybe my rep wouldn’t, but I would.
Harry shook me, “You alive?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “Tired, hurt, but alive.”
“Had me worried there for a second, beautiful,” he said. “I’m going to lift you up now… I’m just about out of juice, so we’re going to have to sack out somewhere close. I have a safe house, and I think we can reach it. It’s not much, but it’ll do to lay low while we rest up.” I closed my eyes since it felt like my head would explode if I nodded, then reopened them. He took it as the yes it was meant to be, and when the doors opened, he lifted me up and slung me over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. I didn’t care how stupid it looked, but I did spare a thought for my sword, left carelessly behind. It was too late to go back now.
Chapter Three
Harry hadn’t been kidding when he said his safe house wasn’t much. It was a crappy apartment right on the edge of the airport consisting of two rooms: a tiny bathroom for one, and everything else shoved in the other. He had a futon, lumpy and misshapen, but he let me have it all to myself. I took off my mask while he rummaged around in the kitchen. “What do you need?” he asked.
“Food, sugar, liquids,” I said, cradling my shoulder. Not being able to quarantine the pain from my topside mind made concentration difficult. I needed to refuel, and fast. My middle felt like a bottomless pit.
He brought me back a soda and an energy bar. “To get you started,” Harry said, looking chagrined. “The rest will take a little bit to cook. I don’t come here often, so everything’s frozen.”
I took it, and tried to pop the top of the soda. Even that came with great difficulty. After a minute, he reached for the soda, but I snarled at him, “I’ll do it!” I didn’t want to add further embarrassment to the whole situation. He shrugged with an amiable look on his face and wandered back into the ‘kitchen’, or what served as it, to prepare us something to eat.
When I finally did get the soda open, I chugged it. I don’t know if you’ve ever literally felt energy come back into your body after you’ve drank or eaten something, but it’s a wonderful feeling. Waves of energy crashed into me, filtering into my limbs and head. My headache even eased. By the time I was snacking on the energy bar, I almost felt human. The immediate need for food taken care of, I turned to the other pressing need: first aid.
The shot to my shoulder had gone straight through, so there would be no bullet to dig out. The other major wound was a graze along my thigh, which had ruined the leather pants I was wearing. With great care, I took my leather vest off and dumped it to the side. Withou
t any medical supplies, the best I could do was try to find something to staunch the bleeding. Thankfully, it was down to a small trickle already.
“Here, let me,” Harry said, sitting on the edge of the futon. I flinched a little, surprised by his sudden appearance. I might have relied on my telepathy more than I thought I did.
“Thanks,” I said as I started to struggle out of my armor. As I dumped it on top of my vest, I noted the shooter had gotten off more shots than I’d first thought… all concentrating on my chest. With my adrenalin pumping I hadn’t even noticed the impact. Funny enough, now that I knew I should be feeling bruised there, I did. With each piece removed, I felt the weight of my wounds more and more. Harry helped me with it, and I noted he moved pretty slow too. Those cracked ribs, I thought to myself. Not fun. Not fun at all.
“Here, hold this,” he said, handing me the med kit. “I gotta check the food.” When he left, I dug into the kit, propping it up on my knee and opening it with one hand. He had stocked it well, and I pulled out what would be needed: gauze, needle, thread, antiseptics, antibiotics. When he returned, I had everything laid out in precise order, ready to be used.
“You don’t mind?” I asked.
He shook his head, dark blond hair bouncing with the movement. “Happy to,” he murmured as he started to peel my shirt away from the wound.
“Here, let me,” I said, unbuttoning my shirt and pulling it down off my shoulder so that he had room to work. To his credit, he only glanced at my bra once as he was focused on his task.
“Going to sting a little,” Harry said as he began to clean the wound out. I winced. This wasn’t the sort of pain I was into, nor did it have the correct build up, but it was a side effect of doing what I did. This would mean another trip to the Doctor to clean up the scar after it healed. “Thanks for coming along.”
“Job wasn’t that hard,” I said, watching him. His eyes were a pleasant shade of blue, one that matched the color of faded jeans. Hm.
He shook his head. “You’re the first two I’ve been able to recruit. It was supposed to be for four, at least, but...we managed it.”
“But it wasn’t that hard,” I insisted, watching as he inspected the wound, then began stringing thread through the needle. “Metas, sure, but…”
Harry stopped what he was doing and looked at me. “You don’t think it was hard.”
“Uh, no?” I said, getting irritated. “We got out, alive, and we found the… thingamabob.” I looked at his hands. The nails were neatly manicured. They moved with surety and deftness. Hm.
“I… huh,” he muttered, seeming not knowing what to say exactly. “Again, this is going to hurt, brace yourself.” With those words, I reinforced my mind, splitting some of the pain off now that I had a bit of energy to do so. When he started to sew, I felt pressure and not pain. It didn’t last long, but it worked throughout the sewing and that was all that mattered. As he worked, he talked quietly, “Titan Industries is not one of those companies you want to piss off. They’re huge, connected… I tried to make sure to cover our steps as best we could, but this sort of thing can haunt your steps for the rest of your life.”
“What was the deal anyway?” I asked. “What did we get?”
He smiled, tightly. “The client wants privacy.”
It suddenly clicked in my head. “It was for you,” I said. “Something you needed.”
Chuckling lightly, he turned and grabbed the gauze and tape. While securing the gauze over the now closed bullet hole (in front at least, he still had to do the back), he nodded. “It’s a long story.”
“I’m listening,” I replied, letting the barrier in my mind go, unable to concentrate on it any longer. “But I need food, something real, substantial.”
“If you’ll be OK, let me check the pasta,” Sadowski said, standing up. I checked his work when he left. The stitches were neat, and while the flesh was tender, I’d had worse. Everything hurt as I shifted on the futon. I racked my brain for the name Titan Industries, but I was coming up short. I didn’t deal much on the “professional” side of things, and the only thing I knew about them was they tried to keep on the up and up, but had a seedy underside… as did everyone and everything ever.
He returned carrying a bowl. “Didn’t have any sauce… forgot to stock up here.” He handed the bowl and a fork to me and sat down again. “Didn’t think I’d need this place. Here, if you lean forward, I’ll work on your back.”
I settled the bowl on my knees and did as he asked. He peeled my shirt down a little more, and I shivered as his fingertips grazed my bare arm. “You’re not what I expected, Sadowski,” I said, winding the bare spaghetti around a fork and shoving it in my mouth.
He snorted a laugh, “What did you expect?”
“Someone weak,” I said after swallowing. “Middlemen usually are.” Not always, because my dad had been a fixer too and he was anything but weak. But usually.
I could see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye. “You’re the telepath,” he said while cleaning the exit wound. “Don’t you know better than to judge a book by its cover?”
“Funny,” I said after having another mouthful. Carbs were good. Protein would have been better, but carbs were good. “Any ‘path who pries too much, too fast without reason gets whacked, fast. You know that.”
“I thought you were better than that,” he said, a light teasing tone to his voice.
“Why, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were keeping tabs on me, Sadowski,” I said, keeping the light tone, enjoying the banter.
“You can call me Harry, and maybe I have been,” he said. I sucked in my breath as he began to sew, and this time I suffered through it, not having the mental resources to spare myself the discomfort. “Looking for people to work under me, after all.”
“I’ll work with you,” I said, “but under you remains to be seen.”
He chuckled. “Who knows what the future holds?” I finished the bowl of pasta and felt better for it as he finished sewing up and bandaging my wound. “Your thigh?”
Since it was getting in the way, after I set the bowl on the floor I just took off my shirt and discarded it, leaving me in my black bra. He couldn’t help but to check me out again, and I preened under the attention. This body cost a lot of money… I showed it off when I could. The gash on my thigh wasn’t deep and didn’t require stitches, but it still needed to be cleaned and bandaged. He did this carefully, and we sat in comfortable silence while he worked. Once he finished, he straightened and looked me in the eye. “More food?”
I nodded, and he got up to refill the bowl. I used a couple of wet naps to get the blood and gunk from our adventure off, for the most part. I really wanted a shower, but wouldn’t be able to until tomorrow at the earliest because of the injuries. When Harry returned, he sat down next to me on the futon, and handed the bowl over. “What now?” I asked.
“We wait and see if we were followed, but I don’t think we were,” he said. “I transfer payment, and that’s it.”
It didn’t take me long to finish the bowl, and I felt much better for having something in my stomach. “You don’t mind me crashing here?” I asked him. I would be having a fit at someone else in my safe house.
He shook his head and smiled a half smile. “A beautiful lady like you? It’s such a burden.” His fingers brushed the back of my hand, and I cocked my head to regard him. After a moment, I laid my hand on his, wondering what was behind that smile. Without my ‘pathy, it was impossible to really know what lay under a person’s facade, but I could read the signals he gave me clear enough. I took his hand in mine, raised it to my lips, and planted a kiss in the palm. His smile didn’t waver, but the look in his eyes did. Harry leaned in slowly until he was hovering over me, his lips a breath from mine. He went that far, but wouldn’t go the rest of the way, waiting for consent. I breached the distance, and brushed the softest of kisses over his lips.
His eyes never left mine as he pushed in further, giving me a hung
ry kiss. Our lips parted, and our tongues danced. A soft groan left his throat and reverberated through me, making my desire rise. Tired though I was, I was never too tired for sex. I caressed the back of his neck with one hand, and slipped the other around his waist, pulling him closer. He touched my cheek gently, before slipping down to stroke my neck and clavicle while we kissed. I broke the kiss, moving to his cheek. We nuzzled each other for a moment, and then he worked his way downwards, kissing my cheek, my jaw, my throat…. I took the opportunity to rally myself and peek at him, telepathically. It was a quick read, but I saw no deception, just desire and a faint trail of worry. I withdrew and shut down to give my powers a chance to renew themselves, satisfied at what I had seen.
His hand slipped down to my shoulder, trailing lingering touches along the strap of my bra, until he cupped my breast. I pressed my chest forward, encouraging him, and he slipped his hand inside to touch my naked skin. Rolling his palm over my hardening nipple, he nipped at my neck. My hands clenched. My nails dug into his skin, and I moved my head over slightly so that I could taste his skin, licking my way along his jaw and up to his ear where I bit his lobe lightly. “You need to be naked,” I whispered.
“Ladies first,” he replied, slipping the strap of my bra off my shoulder. His other hand moved around me, and undid the clasp. Slowly, he pulled it off, letting my breasts go free. “Oh… you’re beautiful.”
I couldn’t help but to preen, but the attention he lavished upon my breasts soon put any other thoughts out of my head. He licked and suckled the right side, and then the left, alternating his hands accordingly. He played with my nipples, causing them to stiffen and ache. The ravishment sent a direct line from my chest to my groin. He made me want him. I moaned while I clawed at his clothed back. I wanted to feel his skin against mine.